Kenilworth Centre to open doors to public

A drop-in session is being held for the public at the Kenilworth Centre on Saturday January 9 from 11:30am to 1:30pm to let Kenilworth residents have a look around and see the centre for themselves.

Visitors will be able to speak to staff who work at the centre as well as the trustees, and can give their views on the centre and the services it provides.

The centre would also like views from young people aged between 12 and 17 on what they would like to see happening at the centre at a session intended for them on Friday evenings.

The drop-in session is also an opportunity for any would-be volunteers to pledge their time to the centre and help it out in the future.

The session is being held in the wake of a closed meeting which took place between the centre’s trustees this week on the direction the centre will take after Kenilworth Town Council’s (KTC) decision to discontinue the £30,000-a-year funding it had provided over the past four years.

The centre’s chair of trustees, John Whitehouse, said the centre was “facing a crisis at the moment” during a radio appearance on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire on Wednesday January 6.

During his appearance he added that central government cuts to local councils had created “quite a big problem” for the centre as both Warwickshire County Council and KTC are forced to make savings.

A petition to get the town council to reverse its decision created by Cllr Kate Dickson (Lib Dem, Abbey), the only town councillor to vote against the proposals, has attracted 187 signatures.

This follows the council’s receipt of an earlier petition from Rev. Andrew Attwood campaigning for the council to continue funding the centre, which had 881 signatures upon its submission.

Cllr Dickson’s petition can be viewed at kenilworthandsouthamlibdems.org.uk/en/petition/save-thekenilworthcentre-again.